CLAY 

Speeches  Delivered  by  H.  Clay, 
of  Kentucky. 


irwtf-i'iif  J«ii jii'  '    - J 


.  Pwt ««.-'««•' ju-^-  i>Yw  •.tjk-iUhit^m'm^iir^ir^rt'i^UST 


SANTA  B/ilvS/JlA 
SPEECHES 


DELIVERED    BY 


H.  CLAY,  OF  KENTUCKY, 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  '.he  19th  of  August,  1841, 


ON 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  PRESIDENT  TYLER,  RETURMG  THE  BANK  BILL,  WITH  HIS  VETO, 


AND 


IN  REPLY  TO   MR.   RIVES,   DEFENDING  THE  MESSAGE. 


Mr.  CLAY,  of  Kentucky,  rose  and  addressed  the  Senate  as  follows  : 

Mr.  President:  The  bill  which  forms  the  present  subject  of  our  deliberations 
had  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress  by  decisive  majorities,  and,  in  conformity 
with  the  requirement  of  the  Constitution,  was  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  for  his  consideration.  He  has  returned  it  to  the  Senate,  in  which  it 
originated,  according  to  the  direction  of  the  Constitution,  with  a  message  announc- 
ing his  veto  of  the  bill,  and  containing  his  objections  to  its  passage.  And  the 
question  now  to  be  decided  is,  Shall  the  bill  pass,  by  the  requi-ed  constitutional 
majority  of  two-thirds,  the  President's  objections  notwithstanding] 

Knowing,  sir,  but  too  well  that  no  such  majority  can  be  obtained,  and  that  the 
bill  must  fall,  1  would  have  been  rejoiced  to  have  found  myself  at  liberty  to  abstain 
from  saying  one  word  on  this  painful  occasion.  But  the  President  has  not  allow= 
ed  me  to  give  a  silent  vote.  I  ihink,  with  all  respect  and  deference  to  him,  he  has 
not  reciprocated  the  friendly  spirit  of  concession  and  compromise  which  animated 
Congress  in  the  provisions  of  this  bill,  and  especially  in  the  modification  of  the 
sixteenth  fundamental  condition  of  the  bank.  He  has  commented,  I  think,  with 
undeserved  severity  on  that  part  of  the  bill ;  he  has  used,  1  am  sure  unintention- 
ally, harsh,  if  not  reproachful,  language ;  and  he  has  made  the  very  concession, 
which  was  prompted  as  a  peace  offering,  and  from  friendly  considerations,  the 
cause  of  stronger  and  more  decided  disapprobation  of  the  bill.  Standing  in  the  rela- 
tion to  that  bill  which  I  do,  and  especially  to  the  exceptionable  clause,  the  duty 
which  I  owe  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  country,  and  self-respect,  impose  upon  me 
the  obligation  of  at  least  attempting  the  vindication  of  a  measure  which  has  met 
with  a  fate  so  unmerited  and  so  unexpected. 

On  the  fourth  of  April  last  the  lamented  Harrison,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  paid  the  debt  of  Nature,  President  Tyler,  who,  as  Vice  President,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  duties  of  that  office,  arrived  in  the  city  of  Washington  on  the  sixth  of 
that  month.  He  found  the  whole  metropolis  wrapt  in  gloom,  every  heart  filled 
with  sorrow  and  sadness,  every  eye  streaming  with  tears,  and  the  surrounding  hills 
yet  flinging  back  the  echo  of  the  bells  which  were  tolled  on  that  melancholy  occa- 
sion. On  entering  the  Presidential  mansion  he  contemplated  the  pale  body  of  his 
predecessor  stretched  before  him,  and  clothed  in  the  black  habiliments  of  death. 
At  that  solemn  moment  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  heart  of  President  Tyler  was 
overflowing  with  mingled  emotions  of  grief,  of  patriotism,  and  of  gratitude — above 
all,  of  gratitude  to  that  country  by  a  majority  of  whose  sufl'rages,  bestowed  at  the 
preceding  November,  he  then  stood  the  most  distinguished,  the  most  elevated,  the 
most  honored  of  all  living  Whigs  of  the  United  Stales. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  and  in  this  probable  state  of  mind,  that  Presi° 
dfint  Tyler,  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  same  month  of  April,  voluntarily  promulgated 
an  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States.  That  Address  was  in  the  nature 
of  a  coronation  oath,  which  the  Chief  of  the  State,  in  other  countries,  and  under 


other  forms,  takes,  upon  ascending  the  throne.  It  referred  to  the  solemn  obliga- 
tions, and  the  profound  sense  of  duty,  under  which  the  new  President  entered 
upon  the  hig!i  trust  which  had  devolved  upon  him,  by  the  joint  acts  of  the  People 
and  of  Providence,  and  it  stated  the  principles  and  delineated  the  policy  by  which 
he  would  be  governed  in  his  exalted  station.  It  was  emphatically  a  Whig  Address, 
from  beginning  to  end — every  inch  of  it  was  Whig,  and  was  patriotic. 

In  that  Address  the  President,  in  respect  to  the  subject-matter  embraced  in  the 
present  bill,  held  the  following  conclusive  and  emphatic  language  : 

"  I  shall  promptly  give  my  sanction  to  any  constitutional  measure  which,  originating  in 
Congress,  shall  have  for  its  object  the  restoration  of  a  sound  circulating  medium,  so  essentially 
necessary  to  give  confidence  in  all  the  transactions  of  life,  to  secure  to  industry  its  fust  and 
adequate  rewards,  and  to  re-establish  the  public  prosperity.  In  deciding  upon  the  adaptation 
of  any  such  measure  to  the  end  proposed,  as  tvell  as  its  conformity  to  the  Constitution,  I  shall 
resort  to  the  Fathers  of  the  great  Republican  school  for  advice  and  instruction,  to  be  drawn  from 
their  sage  views  of  sur  system  of  government,  and  the  light  of  their  ever  glorious  example." 

To  this  clause  in  the  Address  of  the  President,  I  believe,  but  one  interpreta- 
tion was  given  throughout  this  whole  country,  by  friend  and  foe,  by  Whig  and  De- 
mocrat, and  by  the  presses  of  both  parties.  It  was,  by  ever)'  man  with  whom  I 
conversed  on  the  subject  at  the  time  of  its  appearance,  or  of  whom  I  have  since 
inquired,  construed  to  mean  that  the  President  intended  to  occupy  the  Madison 
ground,  and  to  regard  the  question  of  the  power  to  establish  a  national  bank  as  im- 
movably settled.  And  I  think  I  may  confidently  appeal  to  the  Senate,  and  to  the 
country,  to  sustain  the  fact  that  this  was  the  contemporaneous  and  unanimous  judg- 
ment of  the  public.  Reverting  back  to  the  period  of  the  promulgation  of  the  Ad- 
dress, could  any  other  construction  have  been  given  to  its  language  1  What  is  ill 
"I  shaW  promptly  give  my  sanction  to  any  constitutional  measure  which,  origi- 
nating in  Congress,^''  shall  have  certain  defined  objects  in  view.  He  concedes 
the  vital  importance  of  a  sound  circulating  medium  to  industry  and  to  the  public 
prosperity.  He  concedes  that  its  origin  must  be  in  Congress.  And,  to  prevent 
any  inference  from  the  qualification  which  he  prefixes  to  the  measure,  being  in- 
terpreted to  mean  that  a  United  States  Bank  was  unconstitutional,  he  declares 
that,  in  deciding  on  the  adaptation  of  the  measure  to  the  end  proposed,  and  its 
conformity  \o  the  Constitution,  he  will  resort  to  the  Fathers  of  the  great  Republi- 
can school.  And  who  were  they  1  If  the  Father  of  his  Country  is  to  be  excluded, 
are  Madison,  (the  Father  of  the  Constitution,)  Jefferson,  Monroe,  Gerry,  Gallatin, 
and  the  long  list  of  Republicans  who  acted  with  them,  not  to  be  regarded  as  among 
those  Fathers'?  But  President  Tyler  declares  not  only  that  he  should  appeal  to 
thera  for  advice  and  instruction,  but  to  the  light  of  their  ever  glorious  example. 
What  example]  What  other  meaning  could  have  been  possibly  applied  to  the 
phrase,  than  that  he  intended  to  refer  to  what  had  been  done  durmg  the  adminis- 
trations of  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Monroe? 

Entertaining  this  opinion  of  the  Address,  I  came  to  Washington,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session,  with  the  most  confident  and  buoyant  hopes  that  the 
Whigs  would  be  able  to  carry  all  their  prominent  measures,  and  especially  a  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  by  far  that  one  of  the  greatest  immediate  importance.  I 
anticipated  nothing  but  cordial  co-operation  between  the  two  departments  of 
Government ;  and  I  reflected  with  pleasure  that  I  should  find  at  the  head  of  the 
Executive  branch  a  personal  and  political  friend,  whom  I  had  long  and  intimately 
known,  and  highly  esteemed.  It  will  not  be  my  fault  if  our  amicable  relations 
should  unhappily  cease,  in  consequence  of  any  diflference  of  opinion  between  us  on 
this  occasion.  The  President  has  been  always  perfectly  familiar  with  my  opinion 
on  this  bank  question. 

Upon  the  opening  of  the  session,  but  especially  on  the  receipt  of  the  plan  of  a  na- 
tioaal  bank,  as  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  fears  were  excited  that 


the  President  had  been  snisunderstood  in  his  Address,  and  that  he  had  not  waived 
but  adhered  to  his  constitutional  scruples.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  hoped 
that,  by  the  induls;ence  of  a  mutual  spirit  of  compromise  and  concession,  a  bank, 
competent  to  fulfil  the  expectations  and  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  People,  might  be 
established. 

Under  the  influence  of  that  spirit,  the  Senate  and  the  House  agreed,  1st,  as  to 
the  name  of  the  proposed  bank.  I  confess,  sir,  that  there  was  something  exceed- 
ingly outrie  and  revolting  to  my  ears  in  the  term  "  Fiscal  Bank ;"  but  I  thought, 
"  What  is  there  in  a  name  ?  A  rose,  by  any  other  name,  would  smell  as  sweet." 
Looking,  therefore,  rather  to  the  utility  of  the  substantial  faculties  than  to  the  name 
of  the  contemplated  institution,  we  consented  to  that  which  was  proposed. 

2.  As  to  the  place  of  location  ot  the  bank.  Although  Washington  had  passed 
through  my  mind  as  among  the  cities  in  which  it  might  be  expedient  to  place  the 
bank,  it  was  believed  to  be  the  least  eligible  of  some  four  or  five  other  cities. 
Nevertheless,  we  consented  to  fix  it  here. 

And,  lastly,  in  respect  to  the  branching  power,  there  was  not  probably  a  solitary 
vote  given  in  either  House  of  Congress  for  the  bill  that  did  not  greatly  prefer  the 
unqualified  branching  power,  as  asserted  in  the  charters  of  the  two  former  Banks 
of  the  United  States,  to  the  sixteenth  fundamental  condition,  as  finally  incorpora- 
ted in  (his  bill.  It  is  perfectly  manifest,  therefore,  that  it  was  not  in  conformity 
with  the  opinion  and  wish  of  majorities  in  Congress,  but  in  a  friendly  spirit  of 
concession  towards  the  President  and  his  particular  friends,  that  the  clause  assum- 
ed that  form.  So  repugnant  was  it  to  some  of  the  best  friends  of  a  national  bank 
in  the  other  House,  that  they  finally  voted  against  the  bill  because  it  contained 
that  compromise  of  the  branching  power. 

It  is  true  that,  in  presenting  the  compromise  to  the  Senate,  I  stated,  as  was  the 
fact,  that  I  did  not  know  whether  it  would  be  acceptable  to  the  President 
or  not  ;  that,  according  to  my  opinion,  each  department  of  the  Government  should 
act  upon  its  own  responsibility,  independently  of  the  other  ;  and  that  I  presented 
the  modification  of  the  branching  power  because  it  was  necessary  to  ensure  the 
passage  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  having  ascertained  that  the  vote  would  stand  26 
against  it  to  25,  if  the  form  of  that  power  which  had  been  reported  by  the  commit= 
tee  were  persisted  in.  But  I  nevertheless  did  entertain  the  most  confident  hopes 
and  expectations  that  the  bill  would  receive  the  sanction  of  the  President ;  and 
this  motive,  although  not  the  immediate  one,  had  great  weight  in  the  introduction 
and  adoption  of  the  compromise  clause.  I  knew  that  our  friends  who  would  not 
vote  for  the  bill  as  reported  were  actuated,  as  they  avowed,  by  considerations  of 
union  and  harmony,  growing  out  of  supposed  views  of  the  President,  and  I  pre- 
sumed that  he  would  not  fail  to  feel  and  appreciate  their  sacrifices.  But  I  deeply 
regret  that  we  were  mistaken.  Notwithstanding  all  our  concessions,  made  in  a 
genuine  and  sincere  spirit  of  conciliation,  the  sanction  of  the  President  could  not 
be  obtained,  and  the  bill  has  been  returned  by  him  with  his  objections. 

And  I  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  those  objections,  with  as  much  brevity  as 
possible,  but  with  the  most  perfect  respect,  official  and  personal,  towards  the  Chief 
Magistrate. 

After  stating  that  the  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  national  bank,  to  operate 
per  se,  has  been  a  controverted  question  from  the  origin  of  the  Government,  the 
President  remarks  : 

"  Men  most  justly  and  deservedly  esteemed  for  their  high  intellectual  endowments,  their  vir- 
tue and  their  patriotism,  have,  in  regard  to  it,  entertained  different  and  conflicting  opinions. 
Congresses  have  differed.  The  approval  of  one  President  has  been  followed  by  the  disapproval 
of  another." 

From  this  statement  of  the  case,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  President  considers 
the  weight  of  authority,  pro  and  con,  to  be  equal  and  balanced.  But  if  he  in- 
tended to  make  such  an  array  of  it — if  he  intended  to  say  that  it  was  in  equilib- 


4 

rium — I  must  respectfully,  but  most  decidedly,  dissent  from  him.  1  think  the  con- 
joint testimony  of  history,  tradition,  and  the  knowledge  of  living  witnesses  prove 
the  contrary.  How  stands  the  question  as  to  the  opinion  of  Congre-sses  ?  The 
Congress  uf  1791,  the  Congress  of  1813-M4,  the  Congress  of  1815-'16,  the  Con- 
gress of  1831-'32,  and,  finally,  the  present  Congress,  have  all  respectively  and 
unequivocally  affirmed  the  existence  of  a  power  in  Congress  to  establish  a  na- 
tional bank  to  operate  per  se.  We  behold,  then,  the  concurrent  opinion  of  five 
difierent  Congresses  on  one  side.  And  what  Congress  is  there  on  the  opposite 
side  ]  The  Congress  of  1811 1  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  in  that  year,  when 
it  decided,  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  V^ice  President,  against  the  renewal  of  the 
charter  of  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States.  And  I  now  here,  in  my  place,  add 
to  the  testimony  already  before  the  public,  by  declaring  that  it  is  within  my  cer- 
tain knowledge  that  that  decision  of  the  Senate  did  not  proceed  from  a  disbelief 
of  a  majority  of  the  Senate  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  establish  a  national  bank, 
but  from  combined  considerations  of  expediency  and  constitutionality.  A  major- 
ity of  the  Senate,  on  the  contrary,  as  I  know,  entertained  no  doubt  as  to  the  power 
of  Congress.  Thus  the  account,  as  to  Congresses,  stands  five  for  and  not  one,  or, 
at  most,  not  more  than  one,  against  the  power. 

Let  us  now  look  into  the  state  of  autliority  derivable  from  the  opinions  of  Pres- 
idents of  the  United  States.  President  Washington  believed  in  the  power  of 
Congress,  and  approved'  a  bank  bill.  President  .Jefferson  approved  acts  to  ex- 
tend branches  into  other  parts  oi  the  United  States,  and  to  punish  counterfeiters 
of  the  notes  of  the  bank — acts  which  were  devoid  of  all  justification  whatever 
upon  the  assumption  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  bank.  For  how  could 
branches  be  extended  or  punishment  be  lawfully  inflicted  upon  the  counterfeiters 
of  the  paper  of  a  corporation  which  came  into  existence  without  any  authority, 
and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  land?  James  Madison,  notwithstand- 
ing those  early  scruples  which  he  had  entertained,  and  which  ho  probably  still 
cherished,  sanctioned  and  signed  a  bill  to  charter  the  late  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  Mr.  Monroe  never  did  entertain  any  scru- 
ples or  doubts  in  regard  to  the  power  of  Congress.  Here,  then,  are  four  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States  who  have  directly  or  collaterally  borne  official  testi- 
mony to  the  existence  of  the  bank  power  in  Congress.  And  what  President  is 
there  that  ever  bore  unequivocally  opposite  testimony — that  disapproved  a  bank 
charter  in  the  sense  intended  by  President  Tyler?  General  Jackson,  although 
he  did  apply  the  veto  power  to  the  bill  for  rechartering  the  late  Bank  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  in  1832,  it  is  within  the  perfect  recollection  of  us  all  that  he  not  only 
testified  to  the  utility  of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  but  declared  that,  if  he  had 
been  applied  to  by  Congress,  he  could  have  furnished  the  plan  of  such  a  bank. 

Thus,  Mr.  President,  we  perceive  that,  in  reviewing  the  action  of  the  Legisla- 
tive and  Executive  departments  of  the  Government,  there  is  a  vast  preponderance 
of  the  weight  of  authority  maintaining  the  existence  of  the  power  in  Congress. 
But  President  Tyler  ha<,  I  presume  unintentionally,  wholly  omitted  to  notice  the 
judgment  and  decisions  of  the  third  co-ordinate  department  of  the  Government 
upon  this  controverted  question — that  department  whose  interpretations  of  the 
Constitution,  within  its  proper  jurisdiction  and  sphere  of  action,  are  binding  upon 
all  ;  and  which,  therefore,  may  be  considered  as  exercising  a  controlling  powei 
over  both  the  other  departments.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  with 
its  late  Chief  Justice,  the  illustrious  Marshall,  at  its  head,  unanimously  decided 
ihat  Congress  possessed  this  bank  power;  and  this  adjudication  was  sustained  and 
reaffirmed  whenever  afterwards  the  question  arose  before  the  court. 

After  recounting  the  occasions,  during  his  public  career,  on  which  he  had  ex- 
pressed an  opinion  against  the  power  of  Congress  to  charter  a  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  the  President  proceeds  to  say  :  "  Entertaining  the  opinions  alluded  to, 
and  having  taken  this  oath,  the   Senate  and  the  country  will  see  that  I  ceuld  not 


5 

give  my  sanclion  to  a  measure  ot  the  character  described  without  surrendering  all 
claim  to  the  respect  of  honorable  men— all  confidence  on  tlie  part  ot  the  People — 
all  self-respect — all  regard  for  moral  and  religious  obligations  ;  without  an  obser- 
vance oi"  whicn  no  Government  can  be  prosperous,  and  no  people  can  be  happy. 
It  would  be  to  commit  a  crime  which  I  would  not  wilfully  commit  to  gain  any 
earthly  reward,  and  which  woMjustli/  subject  me  to  the  ridicule  and  scorn  of  all 
virtuous  men." 

Mr.  President,  1  must  think,  and  hope  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  with  profound 
deference  to  the  Chief  Magistrate,  that  it  appears  to  me  he  has  viewed  with  too' 
lively  sensibility  the  personal  consequences  to  iiimself  of  his  approval  of  the  bill  ; 
and  that,  surrendering  himself  to  a  vivid  imagination,  he  has  depicted  them  in 
much  too  glowing  and  exaggerated  colors  ;  and  that  it  woul%'have  been  most  happy 
if  he  had  looked  more  to  the  deplorable  consequences  of  a  veto  upon  the  hopes, 
the  interests,  and  the  happiness  oi"  his  country.  Does  it  follow  that  a  magistrate 
who  yields  his  private  judgment  to  the  concurring  authority  of  numerous  decisions, 
repeatedly  and  deliberately  pronounced,  after  the  lapse  of  long  intervals,  by  all 
the  departments  of  Government,  and  by  all  parlies,  incurs  the  dreadful  penalties 
described  by  the  President  1  Can  any  man  be  disgraced  and  dishonored  who 
yields  his  private  opinion  to  the  judgment  of  the  nation?  In  this  case,  the  coun- 
try, (1  mean  a  majority,)  Congress,  and,  according  to  common  fame,  a  unani- 
mous cabinet,  were  all  united  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Should  any  man  feel  himself 
liumbied  and  degraded  in  yielding  to  the  conjoint  force  of  such  high  authority? 
Does  any  man,  who,  at  one  period  of  his  life  shall  have  expressed  a  particular 
opinion,  and  at  a  subsequent  period  shall  act  upoH  the  opposite  opinion,  expose 
himself  to  the  terrible  consequences  which  have  been  portrayed  by  the  President  ? 
How  is  it  with  th^  judge,  in  the  case  by  no  means  rare,  who  bows  to  the  authority 
of  repeated  precedents,  settling  a  particular  question,  whilst,  in  his  private  judg- 
ment, the  law  was  ollierwise  1  How  is  it  with  that  numerous  class  of  public  men 
in  this  country,  and  with  the  two  great  parties  that  have  divided  it,  who,  at  differ- 
ent periods,  have  maintained  arid  acted  on  opposite  opinions  in  respect  to  this 
very  bank  question? 

How  is  it  with  James  Madison,  tiie  bather  of  the  Constitution — that  great  man 
whose  services  to  his  country  placed  him  only  second  to  Washington — whose  vir- 
tues and  purity  in  private  life — wiiose  patriotism,  intelligence,  and  wisdom  in  pub- 
lic councils  stand  unsurpassed  ?  He  was  a  menjber  of  the  National  Convention 
that  formed,  and  of  the  Virginia  Convention  that  adopted,  the  Constitution.  No 
man  understood  it  better  than  he  did.  He  was  opposed  in  1791  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  upon  constitutional  ground  ;  and,  in  1816, 
he  approved  and  signed  the  charter  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  secret  history  connected  with  the  first  bank,  that  James  Madison  had, 
at  the  instance  of  General  Washington,  prepared  a  veto  for  him  in  the  contingen- 
cy of  his  rejection  of  the  bill.  Thus  stood  .Tames  Madison  when,  in  1815,  he  ap- 
plied the  veto  to  a  bill  to  charter  a  bank  upon  considerations  of  expediency,  but 
with  a  clear  and  express  admission  of  the  existence  of  a  constitutional  power  in 
Congress  to  charter  one.  In  1816,  the  bill  which  was  then  presented  to  him  being 
free  from  tlie  objections  applicable  to  that  of  the  previous  year,  he  sanctioned  and 
signed  it.  Did  James  Madison  surrender  "  all  claim  to  the  respect  of  honorable 
men — all  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  People — all  self-respect — all  regard  for 
moral  and  religious  obligations  V  Did  the  pure,  the  virtuous,  the  gifted  James 
Madison,  by  his  sanction  and  signature  to  the  charter  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  commit  a  crime  wh]ch  justly  subjected  him  "  to  the  ridicule  andscortj 
of  all  virtuous  men  ?" 

Not  only  did  the  President,  as  it  respectfully  appears  to  me,  state  entirely  too 
strongly  the  consequences  of  his  approval  of  the  bill,  but  is  he  perfectly  correct  in 
treating  the  question  (as  he  seems  to  mc  to  have  done)  which  he  was  called  apon 


to  decide,  as  presenting  the  sole  alternative  ol  his  direct  approval  or  rejection  oi 
the  bill  ?  Was  the  preservation  of  the  consistency  and  the  conscience  ol"  the  Presi- 
dent wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  restoration  of  the  blessings  of  a  sound  curren- 
cy, regular  and  moderate  exchanges,  and  tlin  revival  of  confidence  and  business 
which  Congress  believes  will  be  secured  by  a  national  bank?  Was  there  no  al- 
ternative but  to  prolong  the  sufferings  of  a  bleeding  country,  or  to  send  us  this 
veto?  From  the  administration  of  the  Executive  department  of  the  Government, 
during  the  last  twelve  years,  has  sprung  most  of  the  public  ills  whicli  have  afflict- 
ed the  People.  Was  it  necessary  that  that  source  of  suffering  should  continue  to 
oprrate,  in  order  to  preserve  the  conscience  of  the  Presideit  unviolated  1  Was 
that  the  only  sad  and  deplorable  alternative?  I  think,  Mr.  President,  there  were 
other  alternatives  worili^  of  the  serious  and  patriotic  consideration  of  the  Presi- 
dent. The  bill  might  have  become  a  law  in  virtue  of  the  provision  which  required 
its  return  within  ten  days.  If  the  President  had  retained  it  three  days  longer,  it 
would  have  been  a  law  without  his  sanction  and  without  his  signature.  In  such  a 
contingency,  the  President  would  have  remained  passive,  and  would  not  have  been 
liable  to  any  accusaiion  of  having  himself  violated  the  Constitution.  All  that  could 
have  been  justly  said  would  be,  that  lie  did  not  choose  to  throw  himself  in  the  way 
as  an  obstacle  to  the  passage  of  a  measure  indispensable  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation,  in  the  judgment  of  the  party  which  brought  him  into  power,  of  the  Whig 
Congress  which  he  first  met,  and,  if  public  fame  speaks  true,  of  the  Cabinet  which 
the  lamented  Harrison  called  around  him,  and  which  he  voluntarily  continued, 
in  an  analogous  case,  Thomas  McKean,  when  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  than 
whom  the  United  States  have  produced  but  few  men  of  equal  vigor  of  mind  and 
firmness  of  purpose,  permitted  a  bill  to  become  a  law,  although,  in  his  opinion,  it 
was  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  that  State.  And  I  have  heard,  and,  from  the 
creditable  nature  of  the  source,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  although  1  will  not  vouch 
for  the  fact,  that,  towards  the  close  of  the  charter  of  the  first  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  during  the  second  term  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  some  consideration  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  renewal  of  the  charter  was  entertained,  and  that  he  expressed  a  wish 
that,  if  the  charter  were  renewed,  it  might  be  effected  by  the  operation  of  the  ten 
days'  provision,  and  his  consistency  thus  preserved. 

If  it  were  possible  to  disinter  the  venerated  remains  of  James  Madison,  leani- 
mate  his  perishing  form,  and  place  him  once  more  in  that  chair  of  state  which  he 
so  much  adorned,  what  would  have  been  his  course,  if  this  bill  had  been  presented 
to  him,  even  supposing  him  never  to  have  announced  his  acquiescence  in  the  set= 
tied  judgment  of  the  nation?  He  would  have  said  that  human  controversy  in  re- 
gard to  a  single  question  should  not  be  perpetual,  and  ought  to  have  a  termination. 
This,  about  the  power  to  establish  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  has  been  long 
enough  continued.  The  nation,  under  all  the  forms  of  its  public  action,  has  often 
and  deliberately  decided  it.  A  bank,  and  associated  financial  and  currency  ques- 
tions, which  had  long  slept,  were  revived  and  have  divided  the  nation  during  the 
last  ten  years  of  arduous  and  bitter  struggle  ;  and  the  party  which  put  down  the 
bank,  and  which  occasioned  all  the  disorders  in  our  currency  and  finances,  has  it- 
self been  signally  put  down  by  one  of  those  great  moral  and  political  revolutions 
which  a  free  and  patriotic  People  can  but  seldom  arouse  itself  to  make.  Human 
infallibility  has  not  been  granted  by  God  ;  and  the  chances  of  error  are  much 
greater  on  the  side  of  one  man  than  on  that  of  the  majority  of  a  whole  People  and 
their  successive  Legislatures  during  a  long  period  of  time.  I  yield  to  the  irresist- 
ible force  of  authority.  I  will  not  put  mj'self  in  opposition  to  a  measure  so  imper- 
ativel}'  demanded  by  the  public  voice,  and  so  essential  to  elevate  my  depressed  and 
suffering  countrymen. 

And  why  should  not  President  Tyler  have  suffered  the  bill  to  become  a  law 
without  his  signature  ?  Without  meaning  the  slightest  possible  disrespect  to  him, 
(nothing  is  further  from  my  heart  than  the  exhibition  of  any  such  feeling  towards 


that  dislingushed  citizen,  long  my  personal  friend,)  it  cannot  be  forgotten  that  he 
came  into  liis  present  ol^ce  under  peculiar  circumstances.  Tlie  People  did  not 
foresee  the  contingency  which  has  happened.  They  voted  for  him  as  Vice  Pre- 
sident. They  did  not,  therefore,  scrutinize  his  opinions  with  the  care  which  they 
probably  ought  to  have  done,  and  would  have  done,  if  they  could  have  looked  into 
futurity.  If  the  present  state  of  the  fact  could  have  been  anticipated — if  at  Har- 
risburg,  or  at  the  polls,  it  had  been  foreseen  that  General  Harrison  would  die  in 
one  short  month  after  the  commencement  of  his  administration  ;  that  Vice  Presi- 
dent Tyler  would  be  elevated  to  the  Presidential  chair  ;  that  a  bill,  passed  by  de- 
cisive majorities  of  the  first  Whig  Congress,  chartering  a  national  bank,  would 
be  presented  for  ids  sanction  ;  and  that  he  would  veto  tlie  bill — do  I  hazard  any 
thing  when  I  express  the  conviction  that  he  would  not  have  received  a  solitary 
vote  in  the  nominating  Convention,  nor  one  solitary  electoral  vote  in  any  State 
in  the  Union  ? 

Shall  I  be  told  that  the  honor,  the  firmness,  the  independence  of  the  Chief  Ma- 
gistrate might  have  been  drawn  in  question  if  he  had  remained  passive,  and  so 
permitted  the  bill  to  become  a  law?  1  answer  that  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate 
is  a  sacred  and  exalted  trust,  created  and  conferred  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation, 
and  not  for  the  private  advantage  of  the  person  who  fills  it.  Can  any  man's  rep- 
utation for  firmness,  independence,  and  honor,  be  of  more  importance  than  the 
welfare  of  a  great  People?  There  is  nothing,  in  my  humble  judgment,  in  such  a 
course,  incompatible  vvith  honor,  with  firmness,  with  independence,  properly  un- 
derstood. Certainly,  I  must  respectfully  think,  in  reference  to  a  measure  like  this, 
recommended  by  such  fiigh  sanctions — by  five  Congresses — by  the  authority  of 
four  Presidents — by  repeated  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court — by  the  acquiescence 
and  judgment  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  during  long  periods  of  time — by 
its  salutary  operation  on  the  interests  of  the  community  for  a  space  of  forty  years, 
and  demanded  by  the  People  whose  suffrages  placed  President  Tyler  in  that  sec- 
ond office  from  whence  he  was  translated  to  the  first,  that  he  might  have  sup- 
pressed the  pronjptings  of  all  personal  pride  of  private  opinion,  if  any  arose  in 
his  bosom,  and  yielded  to  the  wishes  and  wants  of  his  cejjntry.  Nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that,  in  such  a  course,  he  would  have  made  the  smallest  sacrifice,  in  a  just 
sense,   of  personal  honor,  firmness,  or  independence. 

But,  sir,  there  was  still. a  third  alternativi-,  to  which  I  allude,  not  because  I  mean 
to  intimate  that  it  should  be  embraced,  but  because  I  am  reminded  of  it  by  a  me- 
morable event  in  the  life  of  President  Tyler.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  after 
the  Senate  had  passed  the  resolution  declaring  the  removal  of  the  public  deposites 
from  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  have  been  derogatory  from  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  United  States,  for  which  resolution  President,  then  Sen- 
ator, Tyler  had  voted,  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  instructed  the  Senators 
from  that  State  to  vote  for  the  expunging  of  that  resolution.  Senator  Tyler  de- 
clined voting  in  conformity  with  that  instruction,  and  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States.  This  he  did  because  he  could  not  conform,  and  did  not 
think  it  right  to  go  counter,  to  the  wishes  of  those  who  had  placed  him  in  the  Sen- 
ale.  If,  when  the  People  of  Virginia,  or  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  were 
his  only  constituency,  he  would  not  set  up  his  own  particular  opinion  in  opposi- 
tion to  theirs,  what  ought  to  be  the  rule  of  his  conduct  when  the  People  oi"  twenty- 
six  States — a  whole  nation — compose  his  constituency  ?  Is  the  will  of  the  con- 
stituency of  one  State  to  be  respected,  and  that  of  twenty-six  to  be  wholly  disre- 
garded 1  Is  obedience  due  only  to  the  single  State  of  Virginia  ?  Tlie  President 
admits  that  the  bank  question  deeply  agitated  and  continues  to  agitate  the  nation. 
It  is  incontestable  that  it  was  the  great,  absorbing,  and  controlling  question,  in  all 
our  recent  divisions  and  exertions.  I  am  firmly  convinced,  and  it  is  my  deliber- 
ate judgment,  that  an  immense  majority,  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  nation, 
desire  such  an  institution.     All  doubts  in  this  respect  ought  to  be  dispelled  by  the 


8 

recent  decisions  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress..  I  speak  of  them  as  evidence  of 
popular  opinion.  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  majority  was  131  to  100, 
If  the  House  had  been  full,  and  but  for  the  modification  of  the  I6th  fundamental 
condition,  there  would  have  been  a  probable  majority  of  47.  Is  it  to  be  believed 
that  this  large  majority  of  the  immediate  Representatives  of  the  People,  fresh  from 
amongst  them,  and  to  whom  the  President  seemed  inclined,  in  his  opening  mes- 
sage, to  refer  this  very  question,  have  mistaken  the  wishes  of  their  constituents? 

I  pass  to  the  sixteenth  fundamental  condition,  in  respect  to  the  branching;  pow- 
er, on  which  I  regret  to  feel  njyself  obliged  to  say  that  I  think  the  President  has 
commented  with  unexampled  severity,  and  with  a  harshness  of  language  not  fa- 
vorable to  the  maintenance  of  that  friendly  and  harmonious  intercourse  which  is 
so  desirable  between  co-ordinate  departments  of  the  Government.  The  Presi- 
dent cniild  not  have  been  uninformed  thai  every  one  of  the  twenty-six  Senators, 
end  every  one  of  the  hundred  and  thirty-one  Representatives  who  voted  for  the 
bill,  if  left  to  his  own  separate  wishes,  would  have  preferred  the  branching  power 
to  have  been  conferred  unconditionally,  as  it  was  in  the  charters  of  the  two  for- 
mer Banks  of  the  United  States.  In  consenting  to  the  restrictions  upon  the  ex- 
ercise of  that  power,  he  must  have  been  perfectly  aware  that  they  were  actuated 
by  a  friendly  spirit  of  compromise  and  concession.  Yet  nowhere  in  his  message 
does  he  reciprocate  or  return  this  spirit.  Speaking  of  the  assent  or  dissent 
which  the  clause  requires,  he  says  :  "  This  iron  rule  is  to  give  way  to  no  circum- 
stances— it  is  unbending  and  inflexible.  '  It  is  the  language  of  the  master  to  the 
vassal.  An  unconditional  answer  is  claimed  forlhioithy  The  "high  privilege" 
of  a  submission  of  the  question,  on  the  part  of  the  Stale  Representatives,  to  their 
constituents,  according  to  the  message,  is  denied.  He  puts  the  cases  of  the  pop- 
ular branch  of  the  State  Legislature  expressing  its  dissent  "  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
and  its  resolution  may  be  defeated  by  a  tie  vote  in  the  Senate,"  and  "  both  branch- 
es of  the  Legislature  may  concur  in  a  resolution  of  decided  dissent,  and  yet  the 
Governor  may  exert  the  veto  power  conferred  on  him  by  the  State  Constitution, 
and  their  legislative  action  be  defeated."  "The  State  may  afterwards  proves/ 
against  such  unjnist  inference,  but  its  authority  is  gone.''''  The  President  contin- 
ues: "  To  inferences  so  violent,  and,  as  they  seem  to  n\e,  irrational,  \  cannot 
yield  my  consent.  No  court  of  justice  would  or  could  sanction  them,  without  re- 
versing all  that  is  established  in  judicial  proceeding,  by  introducing  presumptions 
at  variance  with  fact,  and  inferences  at  the  expense  of  reason.  A  State  in  a  con- 
dition of  duresse  would  be  presumed  to  speak  as  an  individual,  manacled  and  in 
prison,  might  be  presumed  to  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom.  Far  better  to  say 
to  the  States,  boldly  and  frankly,  Congress  wills,  and  submission  is  demanded.'''' 

Now,  Mr.  President,  1  will  not  ask  whether  these  animadversions  were  prompt- 
ed by  a  reciprocal. spirit  of  amity  and  kindness,  but  1  inquire  whether  all  of  them 
are  perfectly  just. 

Beyond  all  question,  those  who  believed  in  the  constitutional  right  of  Congress 
to  exercise  the  branching  power  within  the  States,  unconditionally  and  without 
limitation,  did  make  no  small  concession  when  they  consented  that  it  should  be 
subjected  to  the  restrictions  specified  in  the  compromise  clause.  They  did  not,  it  is 
true,  concede  every  thing  ;  they  did  not  absolutely  renounce  the  power  to  establish 
branches  without  the  authority  of  the  Statesduring  the  vyholn  period  of  the  existence 
of  the  charter  ;  but  they  did  agree  that  reasonable  time  should  be  allowed  to  the 
several  States  to  determine  whether  they  would  or  would  not  gi\'e  their  assent  to  the 
establishment  of  branches  within  their  respective  limits.  Thoy  did  not  think  it 
right  to  leave  it  an  open  question,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years;  nor  that  a  State 
should  be  permitted  to  grant  to-day  and  revoke  to-morrow  its  assent  ;  nor  that  it 
should  annex  onerous  or  impracticable  conditions  to  its  assent,  but  that  it  should 
definitively  decide  the  question,  after  the  lapse  of  ample  time  for  full  deliberation. 
And  what  was  that  time?     No  State  would  have  had  less  than  four  months,  and 


9 

some  of  them  from  five  to  nine  montns,  for  consideration.  AVas  it,  therefore,  en- 
tirely correct  for  the  President  to  say  that  an  "  unconditional  answer  is  claimed 
forthwith?''''  Forthwith  means  immediately,  instantly,  without  delay,  which  can- 
not be  affirmed  of  a  space  of  time  varying  from  four  to  nine  months.  And  the 
President  supposes  that  the  "  high  privilege"  oi'  the  members  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture submitting  the  question  to  iheir  constituents  is  denied.  But  could  they  not 
at  any  time  during  that  space  have  consulted  their  constituents? 

The  President  proceeds  to  put  what  I  must,  with  the  greatest  deference  and  re- 
spect, consider  as  extreme  cases.  He  supposes  the  popular  branch  to  express  its 
dissent  by  a  unanimous  vote,  whicii  is  overruled  by  a  tie  in  the  Senate.  He  sup- 
poses that  "  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  may  concur  in  a  resolution  of  decid- 
ed  dissent,  and  yet  the  Governor  may  exert  tlie  veto  power."  The  unfortunate 
case  of  the  State  whose  legislative  will  should  be  so  checked  by  Kxecutive  autho- 
rity, would  not  be  worse  than  that  of  the  Union,  the  will  of  whose  Legislature,  in 
establishing  this  bank,  is  checked  and  controlled  by  the  President. 

But  did  it  not  occur  to  him  that  extreme  cases  brought  forward  on  the  one  side, 
might  be  met  by  extreme  cases  suggested  on  the  other?  Suppose  the  populai 
branch  were  to  express  its  assent  to  the  establishment  of  a  branch  bank  by  a  unan 
imous  vote,  which  is  ovei  ruled  by  an  equal  vote  in  the  Senate.  Or  suppose  that 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  b}'  majorities  in  each  exactly  wanting  one  vote 
to  i>,ake  them  two-thirds,  were  to  concur  in  a  resolution  inviting  (he  introduction 
of  a  branch  within  the  limits  of  the  State,  and  the  Governor  were  to  exercise  the 
veto  power,  and  defeat  the  resolution.  Would  it  be  very  unreasonable  in  these 
two  cases  to  infer  the  assent  of  the  State  to  the  establishment  ola  bank? 

Extreme  cases  should  never  be  resorted  to.  Happily  for  mankind,  their  atilairs 
are  but  seldom  aftected  or  influenced  by  them,  in  consequence  of  the  rarity  of 
their  occurrence. 

The  plain,  simple,  unvarnished  statement  of  the  case  is  this  :  Congress  believes 
itself  invested  witli  constitutional  power  to  authorise,  unconditionally,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  branches,  anywhere  in  the  United 
States,  without  asking  any  other  consent  of  the  States  than  that  which  is  already 
expressed  in  the  Constitution.  The  President  does  not  concur  in  the  existence  of 
that  power,  and  was  supposed  to  entertain  an  opinion  that  the  previous  assent  of 
the  States  was  necessary.  Here  was  an  unfortunate  conflict  of  opinion.  Here 
was  a  case  for  compromise  and  mutual  concession,  if  the  difference  could  be  re- 
conciled. Congress  advanced  so  lar  towards  a  compromise  as  to  allow  the  States 
to  express  their  assent  or  dissent,  but  then  it  thought  that  this  should  be  done 
within  some  limited,  but  reasonable  time  ;  and  it  believed,  since  the  bank  and  its 
branches  were  established  for  the  benefit  of  twenty-six  States,  if  the  authorities  of 
any  one  of  them  really  could  not  make  up  their  mind  within  that  limited  time 
either  to  assent  or  dissent  to  the  introduction  of  a  branch,  that  it  was  not  unreason- 
able, after  the  lapse  of  the  appointed  time,  without  any  positive  action,  one  way 
or  the  other,  on  the  part  of  the  State,  to  proceed  as  if  it  had  assented.  Now,  if 
the  power  contended  for  by  Congress  really  exists,  it  must  be  admitted  that  here 
was  a  concession — a  concessiow,  according  to  which  an  unconditional  power  is 
placed  under  temporary  restrictions — a  privilege  ofU'ered  to  the  States  which  was 
not  extended  to  them  by  either  of  the  charters  of  the  two  former  Banks  of  the 
United  States.  And  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  how  the  President 
reached  the  conclusion  that  it  would  luive  been  ''  far  better  to  say  to  the  States, 
boldly  and  frankly.  Congress  wills,  and  submission  is  demanded."  VV'as  it  better 
for  the  States  that  the  power  of  branching  should  be  exerted  without  consulting 
them  at  all  ?  Was  it  nothing  to  afl'ord  them  an  opportunity  of  saying  whether 
they  desired  branches  or  not  ?  How  can  it  be  believed  that  a  clause  whicii  quali- 
fies, restricts,  and  limits  the  branching  power,  is  more  derogatory  fiom  the  digni- 
ty, independence,  and  sovereignty  of  the  States,  than  if  it  inexorably  refused  to 


10 

{.he  States  any  power  whatever  to  deliberate,  and  decide  on  tlio  introduction  of 
branches  1  Limited  as  the  time  was,  and  micondiiionally  as  tiiey  were  required 
to  express  tliemselves,  still  tiiese  States  (and  that  probably  would  have  been  the 
case  with  the  greater  number)  that  chose  to  announce  their  assent  or  dissent  could 
do  so,  and  get  or  prevent  the  introduction  of  a  branch.  But  the  President  re- 
marks that  "  the  State  may  express,  after  the  most  solemn  form  of  legislation, 
'  its  dissent,  which  may  from  time  to  time  therfafter  be  repeated,  in  full  view  «{ 
'  its  own  interest,  wiiich  can  never  be  separated  from  the  wise  and  beneficent  ope- 
'  ration  of  this  Government;  and  yet  Congiess  may,  by  virtue  of  the  last  proviso, 
'  overrule  its  law,  and  upon  grounds  which,  to  sin  h  State,  will  appear  to  rest  on 
'  a  constructive  necessity  and  propriety,  and  noil  iiig  more." 

Even  if  the  dissent  of  a  Stale  should  be  overruled,  in  the  manner  supposed  by 
the  President,  how  is  the  condition  of  that  Stale  worse  than  it  would  have  been  if 
the  branching  power  had  been  absolutely  and  unconditionally  asserted  in  the 
charier  ?  There  would  have  been  at  least  the  power  of  dissenting  conceded,  with 
a  high  degree  of  probability  that  if  the  dissent  were  expressed  no  branch  would 
be  introduced. 

The  last  proviso  to  which  the  President  refers  is  in  these  words:  "  And  pro- 
'  vided,  nevertheless.  That  whenever  it  shall  become  necessary  and  proper  for 
'  carrying  into  execution  any  of  the  powers  granted  by  the  Constitution,  to  estab- 
'  lish  an  office  or  otiices  in  any  of  the  States  whatever,  and  the  establishment 
'  thereof  shall  be  directed  by  law,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  directors  to  es- 
'  tablish  such  office  or  offices  accordingly." 

This  proviso  was  intended  to  reserve  a  power  to  Congress  to  compel  the  bank 
to  establish  branches,  if  the  establishment  of  them  should  be  necessary  to  the  great 
purposes  of  this  Government,  notwithstanding  the  dissent  of  a  Stale.  If,  for  ex- 
ample, a  Slate  had  once  unconditionally  dissented  to  the  establishment  of  a 
branch,  and  afterwards  assented,  the  bank  could  not  have  been  compelled,  with- 
out this  reservation  of  power,  to  establish  the  branch,  however  urgent  the  wants  of 
the  Treasury  might  be. 

The  President,  I  think,  ought  to  have  seen,  in  the  form  and  language  of  the 
proviso,  the  spirit  of  conciliation  in  which  it  was  drawn,  as  1  know.  It  does  not 
assert  the  power  ;  it  employs  the  language  of  the  Constitution  itself,  leaving  every 
one  free  to  interpret  that  language  according  to  his  own  sense  of  the  instrument. 
Why  was  it  deemed  necessary  lo  speak  of  its  being  "  the  language  of  the  mas- 
ter to  the  vassal,"  of"  this  iron  rule,"  that  "  Congress  wills,  ;ind  submission  is  de- 
manded?" What  is  this  whole  Federal  Government  but  a  mass  of  powers  ab- 
stracted from  the  sovereignty  of  the  several  Stales,  and  wielded,  by  an  organized 
Government,  (or  their  common  defence  and  general  welfare,  according  to  the 
grants  of  the  Constitution?  These  powers  are  nc'cessaiily  supreme;  the  Consti- 
tution, the  acts  of  Congress,  and  treaties  being  so  declared  by  the  express  words 
of  the  Constitution.  Whenever,  therefore,  this  Government  acts  within  the  pow- 
ers granted  to  it  by  the  Constitution,  submission  and  obedience  are  due  from  all; 
from  States  as  well  as  from  persons.  And  if  this  present  the  image  of  a  master 
and  a  vassal,  of  Stale  subjection  and  Congressional  domination,  it  is  the  Consti- 
tution, created  or  consented  lo  by  the  States,  that  ordains  these  relations.  Nor 
can  it  be  said,  in  the  contingency  supposed,  that  an  act  of  Congress  has  repealed 
an  act  of  State  legislation.  Undoubtedly,  in  case  of  a  conflict  between  a  State 
Constitution  or  State  law,  and  (he  Constitution  of  the  United  Slates,  or  an  act  of 
Congress  passed  in  pursuance  of  it,  the  State  Constitution  or  Stale  law  would 
yield.  But  it  could  not  at  least  be  formally  or  technically  said  that  the  Stale  Con- 
stitution or  law  was  repealed.  Its  operation  would  be  suspended  or  abrogated  by 
the  necessary  predominance  of  the  paramount  authority. 

The  President  seems  to  have  regarded  as  objectionable  ihat  provision  in  the 
clause  which  declares  that  a  branch   being  once  established, .it  should  not  after- 


11 

wards  be  withdrawn  or  removed  without  ihe  previous  consent  of  Congress.  Thai 
provision  was  intended  to  operate  both  upon  the  bank  and  the  States.  And, 
considering  the  changes  and  fluctia'ions  in  public  sentiment  in  some  of  the  States 
within  the  last  few  years,  was  tlie  security  against  them  to  be  found  in  that  pro- 
vision unreasonable?  One  Legislature  might  invite  a  branch,  which  the  next 
might  attempt,  by  penal  or  other  legislation,  to  drive  away.  We  have  had  such 
examples  heretofore  ;  and  I  cannot  think  that  it  was  unwise  to  profit  by  experi- 
ence. Besides,  an  exactly  similar  provision  was  contained  in  the  scheme  of  a 
bank  which  was  reported  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  to  which  it  was 
understood  the  President  had  given  his  assent.  But,  if  I  understand  this  message, 
that  scheme  could  not  have  obtained  his  sanction,  if  Congress  had  passed  it  with- 
out any  alteration  whatever.  It  authorized  what  is  termed  by  the  President  local 
discounts,  and  he  does  not  believe  the  Constitution  confers  on  Congress  power  to 
establish  a  bank  having  that  faculty.  He  says,  indeed,  "  I  regard  the  bill  as  as- 
'  serting  for  Congress  the  right  to  incorporate  a  United  States  Bank,  with  power 
'  and  right  to  establisli  offices  of  discount  and  deposite  in  the  several  States  of  this 
'  Union,  with  or  without  their  consent  ;  a  principle  to  which  I  have  always  here- 
'  tofore  been  opposed,  and  which  can  never  obtain  my  sanction.''''  I  pass  with 
pleasure  from  this  painful  theme,  deeply  regretting  that  I  have  been  constrained 
so  long  to  dwell  on  it. 

On  a  former  occasion  I  stated  that,  in  the  event  of  an  unfortunate  difference  of 
opinion  between  the  Legislative  and  Executive  departments,  the  point  of  differ- 
ence might  be  developed,  and  it  would  be  then  seen  whether  they  could  be  brought 
to  coincide  in  any  measure  corresponding  with  the  public  hopes  and  expectations. 
i  regret  that  the  President  has  not,  in  this  message,  favored  us  with  a  more  clear 
and  explicit  exhibition  of  his  views.  It  is  sufficiently  manifest  that  he  is  decided- 
ly opposed  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  Bank  of  the  United  States  formed  after 
the  two  old  models.  1  think  it  is  fairly  to  be  inferred  that  the  plan  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  could  not  have  received  his  sanction.  He  is  opposed  to  the 
passage  of  the  bill  which  he  has  returned  ;  but  whether  he  would  give  his  appro- 
bation to  any  bank,  and,  if  any,  what  sort  of  a  bank,  is  not  absolutely  clear.  I 
think  it  may  be  collected  from  the  message,  with  the  aid  of  information  derived 
through  other  sources,  that  the  President  would  concur  in  the  establishment  of  a 
bank  whose  operations  should  be  limited  to  dealing  in  bills  of  exchange,  to  depos- 
ites,  and  to  the  supply  of  a  circulation,  excluding  the  power  of  discounting  prom- 
issory notes.  And  I  understand  that  some  of  our  friends  are  now  considering 
the  practicability  of  arranging  and  passing  a  bill  in  conformity  with  the  views  of 
President  Tyler.  Whilst  I  regret  that  I  can  take  no  active  part  in  such  an  ex- 
periment, and  must  reserve  to  my:^^lf  the  right  of  determining  whether  I  can  or 
cannot  vote  for  such  a  bill  after  I  see  it  in  its  matured  form,  I  assure  my  friends 
that  they  shall  find  no  obstacle  or  injpediment  in  me.  On  the  contrary,  I  say  to 
\  them,  go  on  :  God  speed  you  in  any  measure  which  will  serve  the  country,  and 
preserve  or  restore  harmony  and  concert  between  the  Departments  of  Govern- 
ment. An  Executive  veto  of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  after  the  sad  experi- 
ence of  late  years,  is  an  event  which  was  not  anticipated  by  the  political  friends  of 
the  President ;  certainly  not  by  me.  But  it  has  come  upon  us  with  tremendous 
weight,  and  amidst  the  greatest  excitement  within  and  without  the  metropolis. 
The  question  now  is.  What  shall  be  done?  What,  under  this  most  embarrassing 
and  unexpected  state  of  things,  will  our  constituents  expect  of  us  ?  What  is  re- 
quired by  the  duty  and  the  dignity  of  Congress?  I  repeat,  that  if,  after  a  careful 
examination  of  the  Executive  message,  a  bank  can  be  devised  which  will  afford 
any  remedy  to  existing  evils,  and  secure  the  President's  approbation,  let  the  pro- 
ject of  such  a  bank  be  presented.  It  shall  encounter  no  opposition,  if  it  should 
receive  no  support,  from  me. 

But  what  further  shall  we  do?     Never,  since  I  have  fnjoyed  the  honor  of  par- 


12 

ticipati.ng  H)  the  public  councils  of  the  nation — a  poriod  now  of  neat  thirty-fivs 
years — have  I  met  Congress  under  more  happy  or  morn  favorable  auspices.  Ne- 
ver have  I  seen  a  House  of  Representatives  animated  hy  more  patriotic  disposi- 
tions— -morL'  united,  more  determined,  more  business-like.  Not  even  that  House 
which  declared  war  in  1812;  nor  that  which  in  1815-'16  laid  broad  and  deep 
foundations  of  national  prosperity,  in  adequate  provisions  for  a  sound  currency, 
by  the  establishment  of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States,  for  the  payment  of  the  na- 
tional debt,  and  for  the  protection  of  American  industry.  This  House  has  solved 
the  problem  of  the  competency  of  a  large  deliberative  body  to  transact  the  public 
business.  If  happily  there  had  existed  a  concurrence  of  opinion  and  cordial  co- 
operation between  the  different  departments  of  the  Government,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers ot  thii  party,  we  should  have  carried  every  measure  contemplated  at  the  extra 
session,  which  the  People  had  aright  to  expect  from  our  pledges,  and  should  have 
been,  by  this  time,  at  our  respective  homes.  We  are  disappointed  in  one,  and 
an  important  one,  of  flrit  series  of  measures  ;  but  shall  we  therefore  despair  ?  Shall 
we  abandon  ourselves  to  unworthy  feelings  and  sentiments?  Shall  we  allow  our- 
selves to  be  transported  by  rash  and  intemperate  passions  and  counsels?  Shall 
we  adjourn  and  go  home  in  disgust?  No!  No!  No!  A  higher,  nobler,  and 
more  patriotic  career  lies  before  us.  Let  us  hero,  at  the  east  end  of  Penn- 
sylvania avenue,  do  our  duty,  our  whole  duty,  and  nothing  short  of  our  duty, 
towards  our  common  country.  We  have  repealed  the  sub-Treasury.  We  have 
passed  a  bankrupt  law,  a  beneficent  measure  of  substantial  and  extensive  re- 
lief. Let  U5  now  [lass  the  bill  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands,  the  revenue  bill,  and  the  bill  for  the  benefit  of  the  oppressed  people  of  this 
District.  Let  us  do  all — let  us  do  every  thing  we  can  for  the  public  good.  If 
we  are  finally  to  be  disappointed  in  our  hopes  of  giving  to  the  country  a  bank 
Avhich  will  once  more  supply  it  with  a  sound  currency,  still  let  us  go  home  and 
tell  our  constituents  that  we  did  all  that  we  could  under  actual  circumstances ;  and 
that,  if  we  did  not  carry  every  measure  for  their  relief,  it  was  only  because  to  do 
so  was  impossible.  If  nothing  can  be  done  at  this  extra  session  to  pot  upon  a 
more  stable  and  satisfactory  basis  the  currency  and  exchanges  of  the  country,  let 
us  hope  that  hereafter  some  way  will  be  found  to  accomplish  that  most  desirable 
object,  either  by  an  amendment  of  tlie  Constitution  limiting  and  qualifying  the 
enormous  Executive  power,  and  especially  the  veto,  or  by  increased  majorities  in 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress  competent  to  the  passage  of  wise  and  salutary  laws, 
the  President's  objections  notwithstanding. 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  course  now  incumbent  up»n  us  to  pursue  ;  and,  by 
conforming  to  it,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  laudable  endeavors  now  in  pro- 
gress or  in  contemplation  in  relation  to  a  new  attempt  to  establish  a  bank,  we 
shall  go  home  bearing  no  self-reproaches  for  neglected  or  abandoned  duty. 

Mr.  Rives  having  replied  to  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Clay —  , 

Mr.  CLAY  rose  in  rejoinder.  1  have  no  desire,  said  he,  to  prolong  this  un- 
pleasant discussion,  but  I  must  say  that  I  heard  with  great  surprise  and  regret  the 
closing  remark,  especially,  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Virginia,  as,  indeed, 
T  did  many  of  those  which  preceded  it.  That  gentleman  stands  in  a  peculiar  sit- 
uation. 1  found  him  several  years  ago  in  the  half-ioay  house,  where  he  seems 
afraid  to  remain,  and  from  which  he  is  yet  unwilling  to  go.  1  had  thought,  after 
the  thorough  riddling  which  the  roof  of  the  house  had  received  in  the  breaking  up 
of  the  pet-bank  system,  he  would  have  fled  somewhere  else  for  refuge  ;  but  there 
he  still  stands,  solitary  and  alone,  shivering  and  pelted  by  the  pitiless  storm.  The 
sub-Treasury  is  repealed — the  pet-bank  system  is  abandoned — the  United  States 
bank  bill  is  vetoed — and  now,  when  there  is  as  complete  and  perfect  a  re-union 
of  the  purse  and  the  sword  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive  as  ever  there  was  under 
General  Jackson  or  Mr,  Van  Buren,  the  Senator  is  for  doing  nothing !    The  Sen- 


13 

alor  is  for  going  home,  leaving  the  Treasury  and  the  country  in  tlieir  lawless  con- 
dition !  Yei  no  man  has  heretofore,  more  than  lie  has,  deplored  and  deprecated 
a  state  of  things  so  utterly  unsafe  and  repugnant  to  all  just  precautions,  indicated 
alike  by  sound  theory  and  experience  in  free  Governments.  And  the  Sonatoi 
talks  to  us  about  applying  to  tlie  wisdom  ol  practical  mep,  in  respect  to  banking, 
and  advises  further  deliberation  !  W  by,  I  should  suppose  that  we  are  at  present 
in  the  very  best  situation  to  act  upon  the  subject.  Besides  the  many  painful  years 
we  have  had  for  deliberation,  we  have  been  near  three  months  almost  exclusivel\ 
engrossed  with  the  very  subject  itself.  We  have  heard  all  manner  of  facts,  staie- 
juents,  and  arguments  in  any  way  connected  with  it.  VVe  understand,  it  seems  to 
me,  all  we  ever  can  learn  or  comprehend  about  a  national  bank.  And  we  have, 
at  least,  some  conception  too  of  what  sort  oi'  one  will  be  acceptable  at  the  other 
end  of  the  avenue.  Yet  now,  with  a  vast  majority  of  the  People  of  the  entire 
country  crying  out  to  us  for  a  bank — with  the  People  throughout  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  rising  in  ilieir  majesty,  and  demanding  it  as  indispensable  to 
their  well-being,  and  pointing  to  their  losses,  their  sacrifices,  and  their  sufferings,'^ 
for  the  want  of  such  an  institution — in  such  a  state  of  things,  we  are  gravely  and 
coldly  told  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  that  we  had  best  go  home, 
leaving  the  purse  and  the  sword  in  the  uncontrolled  possession  of  the  President, 
and,  above  all  things,  nsA'er  to  make  a  party  bank  !  Why,  sir,  does  he,  with  all 
his  knowledge  of  the  conflicting  opinions  which  prevail  here,  and  have  prevailed, 
believe  that  we  ever  can  make  a  hank  but  by  the  votes  of  one  party  who  are  in 
favor  of  it,  in  opposition  to  the  votes  of  anotiier  party  against  it  ?  I  deprecate  this 
expression  of  opinion  from  that  gentleman  the  more,  because,  although  the  hon- 
orable Senator  professes  not  to  know  the  opinions  of  the  President,  it  certainly 
does  turn  out  in  the  sequel  that  there  is  a  most  remarkable  coincidence  between 
those  opinions  and  his  own  ;  and  he  has,  on  the  present  occasion,  defended  the 
motives  and  the  conrse  of  the  President  with  all  the  solicitude  and  all  the  fervent 
zeal  of  a  nuniber  ofhis  Privy  Cuuncil.  [A  laugh.]  There  is  a  rumor  abroad 
that  a  cabal  exists — a  new  sort  of  Kitchen  Cabinet — whose  object  is  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  reglulai  Cabinet — the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party — the  dispersion  of 
Congress,  without  accomplishing  any  of  the  great  purposes  of  the  extra  session— 
and  a  total  change,  in  fact,  in  the  whole  face  of  our  political  affairs,  I  hope,  and  I 
persuade  myself,  that  the  honorable  Senator  is  not,  cannot  be,  one  of  the  compo 
nent  members  of  such  a  cabal  ;  but  I  must  say  that  there  has  been  displayed  by 
the  honorable  Senator  to-day  a  predisposition,  astonishing  and  inexplicable,  to 
misconceive  almost  all  of  what  I  have  said,  and  a  perseverance,  after  repeated 
corrections,  in  misunderstanding — for  I  will  not  charge  him  vvith  wilfully  and  in- 
tentionally misrepresenting— -the  whole  spirit  and  character  of  the  address  which, 
as  a  man  ol"  honor  and  as  a  Senator,  I  lelt  njysell  bound  in  duty  to  make  to  tliis 
body. 

,,.  The  Senator  begins  with  saying  that  1  charge  the  President  with  "  perfidy  !  " 
Did  I  use  any  such  language?  1  appeal  to  every  gentleman  who  heard  me  to  say 
whether  I  have  in  a  single  instance  gone  beyond  a  fair  and  legitimate  examination 
of  the  Executive  objections  to  the  bill.  Yet  he  has  charged  me  with  "  arraign- 
ing"  the  President,  with  indicting  him  in  various  counts,  and  with  imputing  to  him 
motives  such  as  1  never  even  intimated  or  dreamed,  and  that,  when  I  was  con  = 
stantly  expressing,  over  and  over,  my  personal  respect  and  regard  for  President 
Tyler,  for  whom  I  have  cherished  an  intimate  personal  friendship  of  twenty  years' 
standing,  and  while  I  expressly  said  that,  if  that  friendship  should  now  be  inter- 
rupted, it  should  not  be  my  fault !  Why,  sir,  what  possible,  what  conceivable 
motive  can  I  have  to  quarrel  with  the  President,  or  to  break  up  the  Whig  party? 
What  earthly  motive  can  impel  mo  to  wish  for  any  other  result  than  that  that  party 
shall  remain  in  perfect  harmony,  undivided,  and  si'iall  move  undismayed,  boldly, 
and  uniiedly  forward  to  the  accomplishment   of  the   all-important  public  objects 


14 

which  it  has  avowed  to  be  its  aim  ?  What  imaginable  interest  or  feeling  can  I 
have  other  tiian  the  success,  the  triumph,  the  glory  of  ihe  Whig  parly?  But  that 
there  may  be  designs  and  purposes  on  the  part  of  certain  other  individuals  to  place 
me  in  inimical  relations  wiili  the  President,  and  to  represent  me  as  personally  op- 
posed to  him,  I  can  well  imagine — individuals  who  are  beating  up  for  recruits,  and 
endeavoring  to  form  a  third  party  with  materials  so  scanty  as  to  be  wholly  insuffi- 
cient to  compose  a  decent  corporal's  guard.  1  fear  there  are  such  individuals, 
though  I  do  not  charge  the  Senator  as  being  himself  one  of  them.  What  a  spec- 
tacle has  been  presented  to  this  nation  during  this  entire  session  of  Congress  ! 
That  of  the  cherished  and  confidential  friends  of  John  Tyler,  persons  who  boast 
and  claim  to  be,  par  excellence^  his  exclusive  and  genuine  friends,  being  the  bitter, 
systematic,  determined,  uncompromising  opponents  of  every  leading  measure  of 
John  Tyler's  administration  !  Was  there  ever  before  such  an  example  presented, 
in  this  or  any  other  age,  in  this  or  any  other  country  1  1  have  myself  known  the 
President  too  long,  and  cherished  towards  him  too  sincere  a  friendship,  to  allow 
my  feelings  to  be  affected  or  alienated  by  any  thing  which  has  passed  here  to-day. 
If  the  President  chooses — which  I  am  sure  he  cannot,  unless  falsehood  has  been 
whispered  into  his  ears,  or  poison  poured  into  his  heart — to  detach  himself  from 
me,  I  shall  deeply  regret  it,  for  the  sake  of  our  common  friendship  and  our  com- 
mon country.  I  now  repeat,  what  I  before  said,  that,  of  all  the  measures  of  re- 
lief which  the  American  People  have  called  upon  us  for,  that  of  a  national  bank 
and  a  sound  and  uniform  currency  has  been  the  most  loudly  and  importunately 
demanded.  The  Senator  says  that  the  question  of  a  bank  was  not  the  issue  made 
before  the  People  at  the  late  election.  I  can  say,  for  one,  my  own  conviction  is 
diametrically  the  contrary.  What  may  have  been  the  character  of  the  canvass  in 
Virginia,  I  will  not  say  ;  probably  gentlemen  on  both  sides  were,  every  where, 
governed  in  some  degree  by  considerations  of  local  policy.  What  issues  may, 
therefore,  have  been  presented  to  the  people  of  Virginia,  either  above  or  below 
tide-water,  1  am  not  prepared  to  say.  The  great  error,  however,  of  the  honora- 
ble Senator  is  in  thinking  that  the  sentiments  of  a  particular  party  in  Virginia  are 
always  a  fair  exponent  of  the  seniiments  of  the  whole  Union.  [A  laugh.]  I  can 
tell  that  Senator  that  wherever  1  was* — in  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi — in 
KeBtucky — in  Tennessee — in  Maryland — in  all  the  circles  in  which  I  moved — 
every  where,  "  Bank  or  no  Bank"  was  the  great,  the  leading,  the  vital  question. 
At  Hanover,  in  Virginia,  during  the  last  summer,  at  one  of  the  n)ost  remarkable 
and  respectable  and  gratifying  assemblages  that  I  ever  attended,  I  distinctly  an- 
nounced my  conviction  that  a  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  indispensable.  As 
to  the  opinions  of  General  Harrison,  I  know  that,  like  many  others,  he  had  enter- 
tained doubts  as  to  tlie  constitutionality  of  a  bank  ;  but  I  also  know  that,  as  the 
election  approached,  his  opinions  turned  more  and  more  in  favor  of  a  national 
bank  ;  and  I  speak  from  my  ewn  personal  knowledge  of  his  opinions  when  I  say 
that  1  have  no  more  doubt  he  would  have  signed  that  bill  than  that  you,  Mr.  Pre- 
sident, now  occupy  that  chair,  or  that  I  am  addressing  you. 

I  rose  not  to  say  one  word  which  should  wound  the  feelings  of  President  Tyler. 
The  Senator  says  that,  if  placed  in  like  circumstances,  I  would  have  been  the  last 
man  to  avoid  putting  a  direct  veto  upon  the  bill,  had  it  met  my  disapprobation; 
and  he  does  me  the  honor  to  attribute  to  me  high  qualities  of  stern  and  unbending 
intrepidity.  1  hope  that  in  all  that  relates  to  personal  firmness — all  that  concerns 
a  just  appreciation  of  the  insignificance  of  human  life — whatever  may  be  attempted 
to  threaten  or  alarm  a  soul  not  easily  swayed  by  opposition,  or  awed  or  intimi- 
dated by  menace — a  stout  heart  and  a  steady  eye  that  can  survey,  unn)oved  and 
undaunted,  any  mere  personal  perils  that  assail  this  poor  transient,  perishing  frame, 
1  may,  without  disparagement,  compare  with  other  men.  But  there  is  a  sort  of 
courage  which,  I  frankly  confess  it,  I  do  not  possess — a  boldless  to  which  I  dare 
not  aspire — a  valor  which  I  cannot  covet.     I  cannot  lay  myself  down  in  the  wry 


15 

of  ihe  welfare  and  happiness  of  my  country.  Tliat  I  cannot,  I  have  not  the  cour- 
age to  do.  I  cannot  uiterpose  the  power  with  wliich  I  may  be  invested — a  power 
conferred,  not  for  my  personal  benefit,  nor  for  my  agjrrandizement,  but  for  my 
country's  good — to  check  her  onward  march  to  greatness  and  glory.  I  have  not 
courage  enough,  I  am  too  cowardly,  for  that.  I  would  not,  I  dare  not,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  such  a  trust,  lie  down,  and  place  my  body  across  the  path  that  leads  my 
country  to  prosperity  and  happiness.  This  is  a  sort  of  courage  widely  different 
from  that  which  a  man  may  display  in  his  private  conduct  and  personal  relations. 
Personal  or  private  courage  is  totally  distinct  from  that  higher  and  nobler  courage 
which  prompts  the  patriot  to  offer  himself  a  voluntary  sacrifice  to  his  country's 
good. 

Nor  did  I  say,  as  the  Senator  represents,  that  the  President  should  have  re- 
signed. I  intimated  no  personal  wish  or  desire  that  he  should  resign.  1  referred 
to  the  fact  of  a  memorable  resignation  in  his  public  life.  And  what  I  did  say  was, 
that  there  were  other  alternatives  before  him  besides  vetoing  the  bill;  and  that  it 
was  worthy  of  his  consideration  whether  consistency  did  not  require  that  the  ex- 
ample which  he  had  set  when  he  had  a  constituency  of  one  State,  should  not  be 
followed  when  he  had  a  constituency  commensurate  with  the  whole  Union.  Ano- 
ther alternative  was,  to  suffer  the  bill,  without  his  signature,  to  pass  into  a  law 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  And  I  must  confess  I  see,  in  this,  no 
such  escaping  by  the  back-door,  no  such  jumping  out  of  the  window,  as  the  Sen- 
ator talks  about.  Apprehensions  of  the  imputation  of  the  want  of  firmness  some- 
times impel  us  to  perform  rash  and  inconsiderate  acts.  It  is  the  greatest  courage 
to  be  able  to  bear  the  imputation  of  the  want  of  courage.  But  pride,  vanity,  ego- 
tisnj,  so  unamiahle  and  offensive  in  private  life,  are  vices  which  partake  of  the 
character  of  crimes  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  The  unfortunate  victim  of 
these  passions  cannot  see  beyond  the  little,  petty,  contemptible  circle  of  his  own 
personal  interests.  All  his  thoughts  are  withdrawn  from  his  country,  and  concen- 
trated on  his  consistency,  his  firmness,  himself.  The  high,  the  exalted,  the  sub- 
lime emotions  of  a  patriotism,  which,  soaring  towards  Heaven,  rises  far  above  all 
mean,  low,  or  selfish  things,  and  is  absorbed  by  one  soul-transporting  thought  of 
the  good  and  the  glory  of  one's  country,  are  never  felt  in  his  impenetrable  bosom. 
That  patriotism  which,  catching  its  inspirations  from  the  immortal  God,  and  leav- 
ing at  an  immeasurable  distance  below  all  lesser,  grovelling,  personal  interests 
and  feelings,  animates  and  prompts  to  deeds  of  self-sacrifice,  of  valor,  of  devotion, 
and  of  death  itself — that  is  public  virtue — that  is  the  noblest,  the  sublimest  of  all 
public  virtues  ! 

1  said  nothing  of  any  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  President  to  conform  his 
judgment  to  the  opinions  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  although 
the  Senator  argued  as  if  I  had,  and  persevered  in  so  arguing,  after  repeated  cor- 
rections. I  said  no  such  thing.  I  know  and  respect  the  perfect  independence  of 
each  department,  acting  within  its  proper  sphere,  of  other  departments.  But  I 
referred  to  the  majorities  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  as  further  and  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  opinion  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States.  And  I  contended  that,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  instructions  which  prevailed  in  Virginia,  and  of  which  the  President  is 
a  disciple,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  example  already  cited,  he  ought  not  to  have 
rejected  the  bill. 

I  have  heard  that,  on  his  arrival  at  the  seat  of  the  General  Government  to  en- 
ter upon  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Vice  President,  in  March  last,  when  interro- 
gated how  far  he  meant  to  conform,  in  his  new  station,  to  certain  peculiar  opin- 
ions which  were  held  in  Virginia,  he  made  this  patriotic  and  noble  reply:  "  I  am 
Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  and  not  of  the  State  of  Virginia  ;  and  I  shall 
be  governed  by  the  wishes  and  opinions  of  my  constituents."  When  I  heard  of 
this  encouraging  and  satisfactory  reply,  believing,  as  I  most  religiously  do,  that  a 


i 


16 

large  niajorily  of  the  People  of  the  United  States  are  in  favor  of  a  national  bank, 
i  (and  gentlemen  may  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact,  deny  or  dispute,  or  reason  it  aWay 
as  thev  please,  but  it  is  my  conscientious  conviction  that  two-thirds,  if  not  more,  of 
the  People  of  the  United   States  desire  such  an  institution,)  I  thought  I  beheld  a 
■  sure  und  certain  guaranty  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  wishes  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States.     I  thought  it  impossible  that  the  wants  and  wishes  of  a  great  People,  who 
had  bestowed  such  unbounded  and  generous  confidence,  and  conferred  on  him  such 
•  exalted  honors,  should  be  disregarded  and  disappointed.     It  did  not  enter  into  my 
•'  imagination  to  conceive  that  one,  who  had  shown  so  much  deference  and  respect 
to  the  presumed  sentiments  of  a  single  State,  should  display  less  towards  the  sen- 
timents of  the  whole  nation. 

[  hope,  Mr.  President,  that,  in  performing  the  painful  duty  which  had  devolved 
on  me,  I  have  not  transcended  the.  limits  of  legitimate  debate.  I  repeat,  in  ail 
truth  and  sincf^rily,  the  assurance  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  country,  that  nothing  but 
a  stern,  reluctant,  and  indispensable  sense  of  honor  and  of  duty  could  have  forced 
from  me  the  response  which  1  have  made  to  the  President's  objections.  But,  in- 
stead of  yielding  without  restraint  to  the  feelings  of  disappointment  and  mortifica- 
tion excited  by  the  perusal  of  his  message,  I  have  anxiously  endeavored  to  tem- 
pr-r  the  notice  of  it,  which  T  have  been  compelled  to  take,  b}'  the  respect  due  to 
the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate,  and  by  the  personal  regard  and  esteem  which  I 
have  ever  entertained  for  its  present  incumbent. 


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